Burger Beginnings

April 9, 1985|By E. R. Shipp, The New York Times

DES PLAINES, ILL — At 400 North Lee Street in this suburb northwest of Chicago, an empire was begun on April 15, 1955, with the opening of McDonald`s Speedee Service Drive- In. The simple shed was easily recognizable to anyone who had been in California: an exterior of cherry-red and white tiles, dipped in silicone and kerosene to make them frostproof, and neon arches that pierced the roof on either side, seeming to anchor the building.

The mascot of this wholesome, fast-food establishment was a character that looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy. In advertisements, he held a sign that announced: ``I`m Speedee.``

The Lee Street operation became known as ``No. 1`` in what would eventually become Ray A. Kroc`s chain of more than 8,000 McDonald`s restaurants in 36 territories and countries, including Thailand; a McDonald`s opened in Bangkok several weeks ago.

As McDonald`s expanded, No. 1 became obsolete. After all, it had begun as, and never was more than, a hamburger stand with a glass-enclosed kitchen and a sales counter. There was no indoor seating. People bought burgers and ate in their cars in the parking lot.

In late 1982, the McDonald`s Corp. announced plans to raze No. 1 and construct a gleaming, modern facility across the street. The announcement produced such an outpouring of concern from people around the world that McDonald`s executives have decided to restore the little building to its original condition and to transform it into a McDonald`s museum.

``Please don`t tear it down!`` wrote Nancy S. Payne of Alexandria, Va., in one of hundreds of letters that poured into the corporation`s headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill., or to the office of the Des Plaines Historical Society.

Payne continued: ``Your company`s name is a household word, not only in the United States of America, but all over the world. To destroy this major artifact of contemporary culture would, indeed, destroy part of the faith the people of the world have in your company.``

Capt. David A. Moeller, a Des Plaines native, wrote from Germany, where he was stationed in the Army, that he was ``appalled`` when he heard of the building`s fate. ``I realize that McDonald`s is not in the same league with Abe Lincoln, but houses he slept in get more recognition and care,`` Moeller wrote.

No. 1 might have more accurately been called No. 10: The very first, the original McDonald`s was opened by the McDonald brothers, Richard and Maurice, of San Bernardino, Calif., in 1948. At that time, Kroc, a high-school dropout and onetime piano player in Chicago honky-tonks, was peddling his Multi-mixer milkshake machine that could prepare five shakes at once.

When the McDonald brothers ordered eight of the machines, Kroc`s curiosity got the better of him. Brent Cameron, a McDonald`s executive vice president, explained that ``he was wondering what they needed with so many of them, so he went to check into it and was pretty much impressed with what he saw.``

In 1951, he talked the McDonald brothers into letting him franchise their restaurant. There were already eight franchises in existence, plus the original San Bernardino restaurant, when Ray Kroc opened his own McDonald`s in Des Plaines, with an advertisement boasting on the eve of its debut: ``We have sold over 5 million hamburgers.``

On that cold, cloudy first day of business 30 years ago, Kroc`s No. 1 McDonald`s sold $366.12 worth of 15-cent hamburgers, 19-cent cheeseburgers, 20-cent milkshakes and 10-cent sodas, milk, coffee and orders of fries.

Kroc was so successful in later days that in 1961, he bought out the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million. The rest is hamburger history: Last Nov. 20, McDonald`s sold its 50 billionth hamburger.

On any given day, about 6 percent of the American public, or 14 million people, eat at McDonald`s restaurants, company officials say. And in Des Plaines, where the empire-building began, almost everyone can tell you something about its history. Bud Koczor, a cabdriver, can. So can Lee Alfano, the police chief, who recalls that Kroc once regularly brought bags of burgers by the police station for the officers.

John Morgan, a senior at Maine West High School, learned about the development of McDonald`s while preparing a report for an economics class and came away admiring Kroc, who, he noted, began his franchise operation ``at such an old age.`` (Kroc was in his 50s at the time.)

Once the decision was made to save No. 1, a search was launched to find authentic period items. According to Cameron: ``Some of the things were kind of hard to come by -- some of the root-beer barrels and the coffee maker, which you would think would be a simple thing.`` The oldest sign, for example, was found in Ogden, Utah. As for some of the sinks and other fixtures, Cameron says, ``We are actually manufacturing new ones to the old specifications.``

The cost of this restoration, which includes removing the latter-day bricks and replacing them with cherry-red and white tiles, ``is substantially more than it cost to build the whole store in the first place,`` Cameron says.

The museum is expected to open late this month, a few weeks after McDonald`s is host for a nationwide 30th anniversary celebration. It will include an exhibit, with old photographs, glass cases diplaying the original uniforms, and other relics of the fast-food past. For new McDonald`s employees and trainees, ``there`s a lot a interest in going out there to see what the original stores were like,`` Cameron says. The museum will also be opened to the public on a limited basis. ``McDonald`s,`` Cameron says, ``is really a part of Americana.``